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U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have lost hold of Baghdad, though some fighting continues. Security forces and government officials have disappeared, replaced by looters, and a crowd of Iraqi citizens, with th help of a U.S. Marine vehicle, topples a 40-foot statue of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks says the regime "is in disarray and much of Iraq is free from years of oppression." Hear NPR News.

Two new scientific papers are at odds over the question of whether it's currently possible to clone humans. One study suggests it's impossible with current methods. But earlier this week, a fertility doctor in Kentucky reported that he had successfully created a very early human embryo clone. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

Two Shia clerics, one returning from exile and the other a Saddam loyalist, are hacked to death in the holiest mosque in Najaf. Observers fear the deaths could be the first round of bloodletting among rival Shia groups jockeying for power in post-Saddam Iraq. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Now that the Iraqi regime has been toppled, the U.S. faces the task of rebuilding the country, physically and politically. NPR's Melissa Block talks about the challenges of administering a postwar country with Ambassador James Dobbins, the Bush administration's special envoy to Afghanistan, and a consultant for the United States in Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia.

U.S. special forces troops and Kurdish fighters enter Mosul after the Iraqi army abandons the northern city. Widespread looting and celebrations are now under way. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

U.S. forces move to secure cities and oil fields in the north, attacking the city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace and base of power. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says much work remains in Iraq, including recovering prisoners of war, searching for weapons of mass destruction and capturing or accounting for the Iraqi leader. Hear NPR's Scott Horsley.

NPR's Melissa Block speaks with Cox Newspapers reporter Craig Nelson in Baghdad.

NPR's Eric Westervelt is with the Army 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad.

Tribes are an integral part of the social and political fabric in Iraq. Saddam Hussein courted the sheikhs of the major tribes, and gained support. Will the American interim government be able to do the same? NPR's Jacki Northam has a report.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Daoud Kuttab, director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University and a columnist for the Jordan Times and the Jerusalem Post. Kuttab talks about how Al Jazeera and other Arab language satellite news services are covering Baghdad.